Canopy Tower Hotel, Semaphore Hill, Soberania National Park, Panama City, Panama

In September of 1988, the radar tower received an important new assignment when it was activated as Site One in the Caribbean Basin Radar Network (CBRN). This network of radars was used by the United States government to detect airplanes suspected of carrying drugs from South America. The tower played this role until June of 1995 when it was closed and left vacant waiting for better days.
In November of 1996, the radar tower and the Semaphore Hill site, consisting of approximately 35 acres of rainforest within Soberanía National Park, was transferred to Panama in compliance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties.
In August of 1997, the government of Panama signed a long-term contract with Raul Arias de Para to transform the site into a center for neotropical-rainforest observation and ecotourism. In January of 1999, the Canopy Tower was inaugurated.